


let me go, my darling, you can't hold on to me forever

by wanda maximoff (statuesquue)



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-09-24 14:41:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20360206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/statuesquue/pseuds/wanda%20maximoff
Summary: "It's okay," she repeats, and lets go.-Or, Natasha falls to save the universe(and in the process, destroys one man).





	let me go, my darling, you can't hold on to me forever

“Welcome.”

The word seems to reverberate through the air, and both Natasha and Clint draw their weapons.

A figure glides forward, tattered black cloak flapping in an invisible wind. “Natasha, daughter of Ivan. Clint, son of Edith.”

“Who are you?” Natasha dares to ask, hand not leaving the gun at her side.

The figure comes closer, close enough for her to make out a skull like face, red as blood. The Red Skull. “Consider me a guide. To you, and to all who seek the Soul Stone.”

She smirks. “Oh, good. You tell us where it is. Then we’ll be on our way.”

Clint, silent beside her, shakes his head, an almost imperceptible movement. She knows what he’s saying.

_Nat, it’s not going to be that easy._

The Red Skull confirms it. “If only it were that easy.” He turns and starts to glide up an unnoticeable path. They follow, if only because they have nothing else to do.

At the edge of a cliff, they stop. The ground around them is littered with small rocks and ancient symbols.

A chill settles over her.

“What you seek lies in front of you… as does what you fear.” The cloaked figure says it simply, as if it is a fact of life.

And perhaps it is.

“The stone is down there.” It’s not a question, and she’s not even sure why she spoke up.

By her side, Clint shifts uncomfortably. It’s clear that he doesn’t really want to know the answer, and to be honest, neither does she- but she needs to know.

After what seems like an eternity, the Red Skull speaks. “For one of you. For the other...” He pauses. “In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love. An everlasting exchange. A soul, for a soul.”

<><><><><>

She sits down heavily, mind whirring.

_Think, Tasha, think._

“How’s it going? Jesus… Maybe he’s making this shit up.” Clint says from where he’s pacing.

Natasha flashes him a wan smile.

Thanos went here with Gamora, she knows that much from Nebula’s stories.

But Gamora didn’t come back.

“No, I don’t think so,” she responds, almost conversationally.

He grins, a humourless thing that leaves her aching for better times. “Why, ‘cause he knows your daddy’s name?”

She takes a deep breath. “I didn’t.”

Clint seems momentarily stunned, but she continues. “Thanos left here with the stone but without his daughter. It's not a coincidence.”

He nods. “Yeah.”

“Whatever it takes.” Natasha whispers.

“Whatever it takes,” he says, equally as quietly.

<><><><><>

She stands up, plait swinging back over her shoulder. “If we don’t get that stone, billions of people stay dead.”

He smiles, a dead smile. “Then I guess we both know who it’s gotta be.”

She smiles right back at him, sharp edged like broken glass. “I guess we do.”

Clint reaches for her hand, and she grasps it right back. They stand like that for while, staring out at the sky over the cliff edge. In another life, it would be beautiful.

Not in this one.

He looks at her, half smiling. “I’m beginning to think we’re talking about different people here.”

“For the last five years I've been trying to do one thing: Get to right here. That's all it's been about. Bringing everybody back.” Natasha glances at him.

“Oh, don’t you get all decent now.” He mock frowns at her, but behind the façade she can see him beginning to crack.

She laughs, a harsh sound. “What, you think I wanna do it? I'm trying to save your life, you idiot.”

He turns to her. “Yeah well, I don't want you to, because I...Natasha, you know what I've done. You know what I've become.”

Her mind flips back to his days as Ronan. And then further back, to her days as an assassin.

A bitter smile graces her lips. “I don’t judge people on their worst mistakes.”

“Maybe you should.” The retort sounds acidic coming from him, but she knows that he truly believes it.

“You didn’t,” Natasha feels the need to remind him. It’s vivid in her mind, the day when she faced the business side of his bow. SHIELD had expected her back in a body bag, if not at all. Instead, she returned alive.

All because of him.

“You’re a pain in my ass, you know that?” The question is rhetorical, but she gasps in mock offence anyway.

She leans her head against his, wishing for just one moment of peace.

<><><><><>

“Okay. You win,” Clint says, and knocks her to the ground. She lands in an explosive _whoosh_, all the breath driven out of her lungs. Her partner stands above her like an avenging angel, a sad smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

“Tell my family I love them,” he mouths at her, and begins to run.

And then in one fluid movement, Natasha drives herself off the floor and into him, tackling him to the ground.

“Tell them yourself,” she replies, and aims her gauntlet at him.

A crackle of electricity later, she’s sprinting toward the cliff edge. But she’s not fast enough to outrun the explosive arrow Clint sends at her, and gets thrown to the side. Blinking up through hazy eyes, she spots Clint racing for the edge of the cliff, and using all her strength, pushes up after him.

As he jumps, so does she.

A grappling hook shoots out from her fist, and she attaches the other end to Clint as she moves past him.

Her descent is stopped by his death grip on her hand.

<><><><><>

“Damn you,” he says softly, but with no real feeling behind it.

She smiles up at him. “Let me go.” Above her, his face is tearstained and crumpled. “No. Please, no.”

Natasha looks at him, memorising every detail of his face. “It’s okay,” she repeats, and lets go.

And then she’s trying not to scream because Clint is getting smaller above her and she’s falling, falling, falling, fallingfallingfalling-


End file.
